Franz Josef Land

Franz Josef Land is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, dividing the Kara Sea to the east and the Barents Sea to the west. It consists of 191 islands that are all part of the Russian Federation. The archipelago is named for Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, as it was first discovered and mapped by the Austro-Hungarian Arctic expedition of 1873. The Russian Empire claimed sovereignty over the islands in 1914, and the Soviet Union later asserted this despite protests from Norway. Most of the islands remain glaciated for most of the year and the only inhabitants as of 2018 are Russian military personnel at the military base on the island of Alexandra Land.